Posted on May 25, 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Education for Global Leadership | U.S. Department of...
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Why the push for STEM education is essential to maintaining leadership in the world and why more service members should pursue it.
Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, was quoted as saying on the importance of education: "There's the big three: Formal schools, on the job, and the very powerful self-learning. Look at all the Navy and military leaders, in fact any leader, right, that you admire, and I will bet a paycheck they were voracious readers and self-learners. Eisenhower, Marshal, Patton, Nimitz, they all read like crazy. They studied everything. Nobody had to drag them into class to do that. They did that because they wanted to win. They did that because their subordinates' lives were in the balance. Be that type of leader."
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coastguardsmen are more than just highly skilled people in uniform who win wars and protect the nation. We are diplomats, decision makers, stewards of the profession of arms, and most importantly, leaders. It does not matter if someone is a new private or a general officer - when the uniform is worn, you become a leader and a representative of the United States. An obligation we collectively share being the leader of the free world are the responsibilities to lead it right.
While we lead in certain domains, we lack in others. Leadership is a holistic enterprise, and CNO Richardson hits home in his quote the importance of continued education to remain competent and hints that education ultimately helps leaders win wars. Education is the key to do this. More than just education however, is possessing the drive to be self-taught. A pretty disparaging statistic is that the United States is ranked 14th in education competency, behind fellow allies South Korea (#1) and Great Britain (#6), yet we lead the world. If we want to continue to do this, we need to get better in this arena (Ranking America, 2015).
Where does STEM come into play? Former President Barrack Obama said it best: "[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world." Science is innovative thinking, and the military demands innovative thinkers to solve the problems, anticipate conflicts, and ultimately win the wars of tomorrow that threaten the freedoms much of the world enjoys today. By studying STEM disciplines, it enables the people, more so the leaders, to become more competent in their own right, therefore better champions of their own destinies.
I believe in this very personally. As a case study, I am currently studying oceanography and marine biology at the graduate level. It has made me a better leader understanding the ocean because over 70% of our planet is ocean, 90% of the world's population lives near a body of water (Save the Sea), and our survival as a species, and our ability to win wars, is inextricably linked to the ocean - its understanding, conservation, and exploitation during war. It has afforded me the opportunity to work and understand Navy partners better, and speak the language to foster closer joint relationships.
As a human being who is fortunate enough to lead others by virtue of position, yet challenges himself daily to think critically about the world in which I live - temporally, physically, biologically - holistically, I push my own Soldiers to study difficult things. To push both bodies physically, and mind intellectually. By looking at science as the mode of thinking to form testable hypotheses to prove what is true or not, a lot of other disciplines can benefit - namely intelligence, another discipline I hold dear and feel very strongly about. When applied to the intelligence method - pulling knowledge from all different sources to make informed decisions for command teams - science is able to provide clearer insight and provide a better operating picture. This is only one example, but it serves to exemplify the benefit of science.
I charge service members to lead from the front, and lead by studying STEM disciplines. When we lead in this area where we have fallen behind, the rest of the country, and world, will follow. We must remain humble in our pursuits, yet take disciplined initiative to better ourselves for ourselves and our posterity.
Sources:
Department of Education website (link above)
Ranking America. 2015. website: https://rankingamerica.wordpress.com/tag/education/
Richardson, John. 2017. University of Notre Dame Leadership Week, https://www.navy.mil/navydata/people/cno/Richardson/Speech/CNO_170225_Richardson_NotreDame.pdf
Save the Sea, http://savethesea.org/STS%20ocean_facts.htm
Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, was quoted as saying on the importance of education: "There's the big three: Formal schools, on the job, and the very powerful self-learning. Look at all the Navy and military leaders, in fact any leader, right, that you admire, and I will bet a paycheck they were voracious readers and self-learners. Eisenhower, Marshal, Patton, Nimitz, they all read like crazy. They studied everything. Nobody had to drag them into class to do that. They did that because they wanted to win. They did that because their subordinates' lives were in the balance. Be that type of leader."
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coastguardsmen are more than just highly skilled people in uniform who win wars and protect the nation. We are diplomats, decision makers, stewards of the profession of arms, and most importantly, leaders. It does not matter if someone is a new private or a general officer - when the uniform is worn, you become a leader and a representative of the United States. An obligation we collectively share being the leader of the free world are the responsibilities to lead it right.
While we lead in certain domains, we lack in others. Leadership is a holistic enterprise, and CNO Richardson hits home in his quote the importance of continued education to remain competent and hints that education ultimately helps leaders win wars. Education is the key to do this. More than just education however, is possessing the drive to be self-taught. A pretty disparaging statistic is that the United States is ranked 14th in education competency, behind fellow allies South Korea (#1) and Great Britain (#6), yet we lead the world. If we want to continue to do this, we need to get better in this arena (Ranking America, 2015).
Where does STEM come into play? Former President Barrack Obama said it best: "[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world." Science is innovative thinking, and the military demands innovative thinkers to solve the problems, anticipate conflicts, and ultimately win the wars of tomorrow that threaten the freedoms much of the world enjoys today. By studying STEM disciplines, it enables the people, more so the leaders, to become more competent in their own right, therefore better champions of their own destinies.
I believe in this very personally. As a case study, I am currently studying oceanography and marine biology at the graduate level. It has made me a better leader understanding the ocean because over 70% of our planet is ocean, 90% of the world's population lives near a body of water (Save the Sea), and our survival as a species, and our ability to win wars, is inextricably linked to the ocean - its understanding, conservation, and exploitation during war. It has afforded me the opportunity to work and understand Navy partners better, and speak the language to foster closer joint relationships.
As a human being who is fortunate enough to lead others by virtue of position, yet challenges himself daily to think critically about the world in which I live - temporally, physically, biologically - holistically, I push my own Soldiers to study difficult things. To push both bodies physically, and mind intellectually. By looking at science as the mode of thinking to form testable hypotheses to prove what is true or not, a lot of other disciplines can benefit - namely intelligence, another discipline I hold dear and feel very strongly about. When applied to the intelligence method - pulling knowledge from all different sources to make informed decisions for command teams - science is able to provide clearer insight and provide a better operating picture. This is only one example, but it serves to exemplify the benefit of science.
I charge service members to lead from the front, and lead by studying STEM disciplines. When we lead in this area where we have fallen behind, the rest of the country, and world, will follow. We must remain humble in our pursuits, yet take disciplined initiative to better ourselves for ourselves and our posterity.
Sources:
Department of Education website (link above)
Ranking America. 2015. website: https://rankingamerica.wordpress.com/tag/education/
Richardson, John. 2017. University of Notre Dame Leadership Week, https://www.navy.mil/navydata/people/cno/Richardson/Speech/CNO_170225_Richardson_NotreDame.pdf
Save the Sea, http://savethesea.org/STS%20ocean_facts.htm
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Education for Global Leadership | U.S. Department of...
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